A Panda's Dream
by Lost Fanfiction
Summary: One day, a girl named Ranma shows up on Akane's doorstep with a panda. (By Haxchan. Story published here because all websites it is on have vanished)
1. Part 1

This story was written by Haxchan. I am posting it because there is no other easily available website that this story can be read on. If the author of this story wishes to talk to me about the posting of it, contact me using the email in my profile.

* * *

A Panda's Dream pt. 1

Excellsior ( ) attbi()com

Takahashi owns. In general, but more specifically the Ranma

Universe. I do not.

This is a four part series, I'll post the next tomorrow.

There was something romantic in a first impression that appealed to Akane, a breeze drifting through towns and forests on its way to the sea. An unexpected knock sounded through the sleepy house during dinner, and she was the first to rise from the table and make her way to the door, opening it casually. She immediately noticed the panda.

"Hello, I'm Ranma Saotome. Am I supposed to be talking to you?" Akane quickly broke her gaze from the black and white animal who stood looming against the deepening night, to the much smaller girl who stood to the left. She seemed almost ghostlike next to the giant beast, like she would vanish into the dusk shadows.

"I'm Akane Tendo." She paused, no way to answer the girl's question. She stared at the girl, at her intricately stitched Chinese clothing that seemed to be a few sizes too large, the shirt hung down past the waist to the thigh. It covered dark blue silk pants that billowed out around the ankles, tied with twine to close around a much smaller leg. A backpack was lying on the wooden boards near the door. Akane could make out a dirt stained bedroll tied on top of thick, creased leather, worn by sun and usage; it was damp. Akane noted it must have been raining earlier, and in a flash connected it to the steady pitter-patter she had heard earlier in her room, when she had been lying on her bed waiting for dinner to be called. Long red hair framed a normal face; the girl must have been close to Akane's sixteen years, but her glazed blue-gray eyes made her seem otherworldly. It was as if she only saw blurred outlines of the real world, perhaps there was an entire cast of legends and myths behind the disconnected stare.

This happened in a heartbeat, and then Akane was talking. "Are you looking for our dojo?"

"I could be." The girl shrugged. "Figures you'd have a dojo." She looked around, expressionless, noticing the moss on the roof, the stains on the walls, and the freshly washed floor of the entrance area.

Akane furrowed her brow in disbelief, and leaned forward to study the girl further. "This isn't some prank, is it? Do I know you from school?" The girl only shook her head.

Soun Tendo's voice called out from the dinner table. "Who is it?"

Nabiki Tendo, Akane's elder by a year, had made her way to the doorway where her sister was talking with the strange girl. She shouted back a response. "Someone named Ranma Saotome, Daddy!"

The middle-aged Soun Tendo sprang into action, running as fast as his dignity would allow. He quickly arrived at the door, and after a moment's goggle at the panda, wrapped his arms around the stunned girl in the doorway. As he spoke, he lifted her up in a bear hug. "My boy, you don't know how happy I am to see you! If only my wife could see this day!" The redhead was a half-meter off the ground. Nabiki, Akane, and the oldest sister, Kasumi, stared in confusion at their father's familiarity and how he mentioned their mother.

"Please, Ranma my boy, come in! But tell me, how's Genma doing? Why isn't he here?" Soun let Ranma down, and led the girl into the house, with the sisters dutifully following behind, Akane and Kasumi shooting befuddled glances between themselves. The panda lumbered in last, shouldering the backpack. Soun sat down a meter away from the forgotten dinner table, the uneaten food left to grow cold. Ranma also sat down, joined by the three girls, who maintained a respectful distance between Father and his new friend. Ranma looked, impressed by the well-kept garden she saw in the yard outside the house, big for Tokyo. And then she noticed the dishes that remained on the table. She realized with a start that she was hungry.

"Umm, you wouldn't mind if I had that?" Ranma dipped her head to indicate the table.

"Certainly not, my boy, Kasumi could warm it-" He broke off, as Ranma walked over to the table and started eating. Only after a moment of reflection did Soun realize that Ranma had instantly pulled out her own pair of chopsticks, from who knows where, and was using them to methodically place what lay on Nabiki's plate into her mouth. The lacquered wood moved slowly and precisely.

Nabiki's plate was soon without food. The motion stopped, and Ranma slowly wiped her utensils clean with a cloth napkin. Then her hand dipped near her pants, and after negotiating the overhanging folds of her shirt, flicked her hand and the chopsticks were gone, dropped into some silk pocket. "Can he have some too?" Ranma pointed to the panda. "I mean, if you all are done..." She stopped, letting the Tendo family complete the thought.

Soun broadly smiled, his eyes dancing warmly. "Of course, my boy! But that's not why you've come."

"Why have I come then?"

"You honestly mean you-" he paused, in disbelief. "You don't know? Where's Genma, anyway?"

The girl shrugged. "Lost him in China." She looked over to the panda, and the mess he had made by trying to eat sukiyaki noodles with his clumsy paws. Kasumi looked incredibly upset.

"How do you lose your father?"

"It's quite easy," Ranma deadpanned.

"What?" Soun sat up straight, his face deathly still. "What was that?"

"What do you want me to tell you?" Ranma responded carelessly. "That he died a noble tragic death, fighting an evil that defiled the Saotome clan's honor? That his death was a befitting sacrifice to the Art?" Ranma snorted. The Tendo girls stared.

"My father told me to come to the Tendos. And here I am."

Soun slumped, abandoning the fate of his old friend. "Well, Genma and I long ago made a pact, that our children would marry and carry on the school of Anything Goes Martial Arts." As he spoke, he became animated, the previous tension dropping away. "And so here you are, and I offer you my daughters. Kasumi, age nineteen. Nabiki, age seventeen. Akane, age sixteen. Whichever one you pick, she's your fiancee." His voice quaked with a remembered energy.

No one spoke.

Ranma appraised the girls. But neither her mouth nor her eyes revealed anything, and she was motionless, listening to the Tendo girls rustling their clothes and the panda's deep rhythmic breathing.

Nabiki finally spoke. "Daddy, Ranma isn't a boy."

"Whatever do you mean, Nabi-" Soun looked closely at the girl, and froze.

Nabiki rolled her eyes. "Well, there goes the fiance thing." She unhurriedly rose to her feet and walked away. "I wonder what's on TV."

Kasumi walked over to her father with concern. "Are you all right?"

Ranma got up and looked at the panda, gauging the mess he had made at the table.

"Does he have a name?"

Ranma turned around to see Akane standing close by. She shook her head. "No, not really."

"You don't call him anything?"

Ranma turned around to study the girl. She was average height, wore tan shorts and a dark gray t-shirt complete with an unfamiliar logo. Long dark hair was tied into a bow, with strands to the left and right free to hang. She was waiting patiently for an answer.

"We don't use names. We know who we're talking to." An odd smile formed on Ranma's lips.

"Hmm." Akane and Ranma stood motionless, bodies turned facing the panda. "Why were you in China?"

"Martial arts training." Whatever had prompted the smile had gone, leaving a blank stare.

"Really? I practice some too. Wanna spar?" Akane broke her gaze from the panda and turned towards Ranma.

"Not really."

"What?"

"I'm not really into fighting."

"Come on, it'll be fun." Akane's expression was pleading.

The panda watched the exchange, large eyes masked by dark rings.

Ranma sighed. "I guess."

Akane took Ranma's hand and they moved towards the door. Soun's voice reached them.

"Ranma, you-" Soun waited for the girl to face him before continuing. "You will stay with us, we're all very sorry about your father." The words came halting and formal.

Ranma nodded briefly. Akane pulled her towards the dojo, and Ranma thought she heard a heavy, mournful sigh from Soun. Or maybe it was just the panda, steadily pushing and pulling at the night air.

* * *

They entered the dojo, their bare feet quietly padding against the wooden floor. Akane looked down at her clothes. "I'm not really dressed for this, so maybe only a little match."

Ranma stood straight, her body motionless. "Fine by me."

Akane looked at the girl's curious stance. Akane noisily readied herself, and getting no reaction from her opponent, opened with a punch. She looked away, not wanting to hear the sound her fist would make hitting into Ranma's lean body. Akane braced her fist for the impact.

Her fist swished harmlessly through thin air. Akane focused her eyes, finding no trace of Ranma, until her eye caught something above her. She blindly kicked upwards, but once again hit nothing. She felt her shorts tighten against her rising leg, and Ranma landed, somehow melting around the blow. Akane recovered and used her momentum to punch, but Ranma wasn't there. She struck again to where Ranma had leaned, but a shift and Ranma was again out of the way. Akane grunted in frustration, her mercy gone, and she charged against Ranma. Her fist stretching out, out, out-

Akane fell forward onto her hands, her enemy nowhere. She lay there, breathing, hearing a quiet chuckle from behind her. She whirled to face Ranma, her anger ready, but stopped; she saw the laughter on the redhead's face. Ranma offered her hand and Akane pulled herself up. But the laughter wasn't between them; Ranma's eyes made that clear.

"Well, I'm just glad I wasn't beaten by a boy."

Ranma stopped laughing. Akane's smile shrank in response, and after a pause she unhurriedly left the dojo, quick enough to be purposeful, slow enough to be polite. Ranma followed suit.

* * *

Akane had gone to her room, leaving Ranma alone near the stairwell, in the foreign house. After watching her climb the stairs and disappear into the upstairs hallway, the redhead stood for a moment, thinking.

She looked down a corridor and saw the room she had been led to earlier.

The panda sat on the edge of the porch, his haunches on the edge of the wood, his paws barely touching the damp grass. She stepped through the wide open door that connected to the outside garden, and walked to the end of the wooden planks till she stood next to the resting animal. She stretched, noisily yawning in the crisp night air.

"Ranma?"

She turned around to see the eldest girl holding a towel. "Wouldn't you like to take a bath?"

"Not really."

"Ranma!" Her voice had a sharp edge to it, and she smiled. "You must be all sweaty from the workout." With that, she forced the towels into Ranma's hands.

Ranma returned the way she came, looking into the rooms until she found the furo. She entered, and prepared herself for the bath. The chill from the cold water made her more than happy to enter the warmth. She slid open the door and climbed in. She sighed, her body pleasantly relaxed, eyelids closed against the steam. Light and age had faded the blue tile, but it was clean and elegant regardless.

She felt her bottom slip and her body slouched, further submerging her into the warm water, up to her neck.

The outer door slid open, and Ranma's body tensed, sending ripples flowing out into the ceramic walls that confined the water. She heard the door shut, and traced the movement of the person as clothing rustled, and the wash bucket was filled. The person gave a female grunt as the cold water splashed from the bucket down the person's body, splashing against the floor. Then the door to the furo was opened, and Ranma took a glance.

"Ranma!"

Ranma quickly turned her head away, a slight red tinge on her face. "Hello again."

"Shy?"

"Well," Ranma started, but never finished.

After a bit, Akane continued. "It's okay, you'll get used to it. I'm always having to share with Kasumi or Nabiki."

"Those were the names," Ranma half muttered.

"Not good with names?"

"No, not really."

"Do you even know mine?"

Ranma shook her head sadly.

"Well, that's okay." Akane smiled and raised a hand to Ranma's shoulder. "Just get used to the bath for now." At the touch, Ranma looked at Akane and smiled, trying to focus her attention at a point on the wall a meter behind Akane, and after a moment, retreated back to the other direction. The hand lingered, then dropped back into the water. Moments passed, in what could be comfort and ease.

"What was it like in China?"

"Hmm?"

"I mean, well," Akane paused, "you were there at least a few weeks, right?"

"Yeah, maybe a month or two." Ranma raised her head; her eyes glazed on a wooden plank a half-meter below the ceiling. "We thought it was beautiful."

"We?"

Ranma glanced over to Akane. "Yeah, the panda."

"The panda," Akane acknowledged. She knew there was something in those two words beyond explanation; it was instead the lilting tone of Ranma's voice and the soft, dream-laden look in her eyes. It was a whole different world, bridged only by Ranma's memories.

"So you're gonna stay here for a while?"

"Might as well. Don't have anywhere else to be."

There was another silence. Ranma felt the gentle pulse of the water against her skin; it was constant and relaxing.

"You came here expecting to be married?"

"No, my father didn't mention anything like that. He mentioned that I should come here. It wasn't his last words or nothing, he didn't really have any of those, not that it would've helped him any." Ranma paused, mildly wondering at what she was revealing. "Anyway, one of the things he told me was that I should come here. It was lucky that he said that when he did."

"What happened?"

"Oh, to my father? A few days later he fell at one of the training grounds we visited."

"Hmm," Akane returned expectantly.

Ranma threw her head back, resting it against tile slick from the furo's steam. She continued, head pointed at the ceiling. "So you go to school?"

"Of course." Akane gave the redhead a strange look. "You're not joking, are you?"

"I knew you went. I guess I'll go to yours."

"I suppose you should. Everyone says you should get an education."

"Who?"

"Silly." Akane gave a short smile. "You know. People."

"Well, I dunno why. But I'd rather not stay in this house everyday."

"Kasumi would keep you company. And Father."

"No thanks."

"I wish I had the chance to do nothing for a few days."

Ranma dropped her palm onto the water to watch the ripples flow outward. "Why doesn't your sister go to school?"

"She's done. She never did all that well, after Mother died. She's really quite good with cooking and taking care of the house."

"That's right, she was nineteen."

"You know, I wanted to be like Mother, like Kasumi is now. I was the youngest, but Mother trained me to cook and care for the house, I guess I was her favorite, up until the end."

"When she was too sick?"

"No, it was weird, like she suddenly changed her mind and decided that Kasumi would be the one to carry on the dojo. Kasumi was really happy, as she'd always been mad that I'd been the one to be taught by Mother. I dunno what it was, Mother seemed to change, became more business-like around Kasumi, and friendlier around me, much warmer than she'd ever been before."

"I guess she figured she needed your sister to take over right away."

"Yeah, but she had always been so intent on me carrying on for her, and suddenly she decided that I wasn't fit for it. Like she'd rather I do something else. So Kasumi replaced her, and here we are, still living with it years later."

"Yeah, it was like that with my Father near his end, although we didn't know that, he started to lecture me about morals and stuff that he used to call a waste of time. Some days we didn't even fight, I guess he was just getting old."

"Ahh," Akane murmured, impressed. "I wish I was like that with my father." She suddenly looked at Ranma. "I'm sorry that he had to...to be gone", she finished awkwardly.

"Don't be." Her eyes focused on Akane's. "There's nothing to be sorry about. I didn't listen to his last few talks, I just accused him of not following through with our plan, I told him that he'd lost the will to see me to the top. I struck him a few times, but even that didn't rouse him."

No response came from Akane.

Ranma splashed the water with her fingers. "This is nice."

"The bath is one of my favorite things."

"Whenever we'd stay in a temple or at another dojo and Pop and I would use their bath. Sometimes we'd go to one place over another just because we heard one had better baths."

Akane smiled, and looked at her fingers. "I think I've stayed in too long."

Ranma leaned over to see the wrinkled skin. She held up her arms, her mouth smiling. "I'm even worse."

Akane reached to feel the grooves that ran through Ranma's hands. She traced the channels, and she pushed against them, feeling the protrusions melt back into Ranma's skin. She removed the pressure and they reformed. "Alright." Akane rose, sliding open the inner door and stepping out into the colder air. Ranma followed and the two stood shivering.

Ranma jerked when she felt something scrape her back, but turned around to find only Akane, toweling Ranma's shoulders, then moving on to the back of the waist, then Akane's arms reaching for her stomach. Ranma turned one way, then the other, to allow the other girl to continue. When Akane was done, she took the offered towel and began to do the same to Akane. When they both were dry, on went clothes, Ranma's Chinese outfit and Akane's light blue pajamas. Akane, then Ranma, tried to dry their damp hair with the towel. The towel was hung up, the lights were turned off, the door was shut.

* * *

Ranma moved up the stairs, Akane on her heels. Reaching the top, she stopped, causing the girl behind her to stumble.

"Ranma!"

"Oh, sorry Akane." Ranma walked away from the stairwell. "But I don't have a place to sleep."

A large growl came from further down the hallway.

"Ah." Ranma walked towards the noise. She gave a big yawn and stretched her arms behind her back.

"Good night, Akane."

"Good night, Ranma."

She had made her way to the room with a panda, and after seeing an empty bedroll there, slid the door shut and turned out the light.

"Good night."

The panda grunted unintelligibly, a soft acknowledgement.


	2. Part 2

A Panda's Dream pt. 2

Excellsior() attbi()com

Here we go, another fun filled adventure with gratuitous sex and

riveting action.

* * *

In the early morning Ranma awoke, the glint of the sun reflecting off the polished wood floor and into her face.

"Ranma! Breakfast!"

Ranma looked up to see Kasumi standing in the door.

"Do you hear me? You don't get any breakfast unless you come down now."

Footsteps receded away. She waited for a moment, then walked downstairs to where the family had already gathered around the table.

Ranma sat at the end of the table, next to Akane and across from Nabiki. The redhead intently brought her chopsticks to her mouth, devoted to the act of eating.

Akane opened up the conversation. "Did you sleep well?"

Her chewing rate constant, Ranma stared at a point in the wall slightly to the left of Nabiki's head.

"Pretty well," Ranma responded, after a length.

"Pretty well?"

"Mm-huh," Ranma grunted, food in her mouth.

"I see." Akane's voice was prim.

Breakfast continued in silence until Akane stood up and Ranma followed.

"So I'm going to school?"

Akane shook her head, not looking at the other girl. "Don't ask me."

Nabiki got up. "Well, it's time to leave, so if you are you should be heading out the door." With that she left the room and went for her bag near the stairs.

Akane sighed. "Are you going?"

"Yeah."

"Let's go. Thanks for the breakfast, Kasumi!" They headed off for the door, Akane in front.

"Thanks Akane, it's my duty.

* * *

"Why are you up there?"

"Hmm?"

"Why are you on that fence?"

Ranma continued, her balance perfect as one foot then the next came down upon the narrow top of the fence. "No reason." She hopped down to walk next to Akane.

"Is that something from China?"

"Not really, just a way of walking."

"I might have guessed."

Crisp air gently flowed around them as they walked the empty street. Akane looked up at the overcast sky, where the sun lit up a small bright circle in the heavy gray clouds. Evenly spaced houses surrounded the street on both sides, their styles random and mismatched. Some seemed to retreat from the street, isolated by protective gardens and walkways, while others seemed to push the street back, their walls flush with the sidewalk. It was a mix of sloping roofs and stucco, decks and porches. Small yards were crammed with bicycles, miniscule gardens, and trees. Birds sang, their melody overpowering the frying noodles and sauteing vegetables of breakfast.

To Ranma the scene seemed more like a pathetic model of something far grander and wilder than a suburban street. Ranma felt an odd whim to look inside one of the few parked cars, to see if there was anything inside the metal shell.

"Ranma, look over there."

"Yeah?" Ranma responded, turning away from the street to look where Akane was pointing. She saw a large building, double storied, with large windows. A meter high wall encapsulated it, and it featured a sign offering medical services. Like the houses Ranma had seen earlier, trees were wedged in between the building walls and the surrounding stone barrier.

"That's Doctor Tofu who works there, he's the family doctor."

"Big office for one guy."

"Yes, he's quite popular. He's a good doctor."

"You pass by him every morning?"

"Yeah, I used to see if I could see him through the windows whenever I passed. Sometimes I would and we'd wave at each other."

"Used to?"

"Yeah, I used to..." Akane's voice trailed off before she started again. "It doesn't matter now. I used to have a crush on him."

"Isn't a doctor too old?"

"He's in his twenties, so too old for me."

Ranma's expression turned to mild curiosity.

"When I thought about him I would pile up the reasons why it was hopeless. I got sick of the heartache and forgot him."

"But you still walk this way?"

Akane's voice was melancholy; the familiar emotions behind Akane's bittersweet smile called to Ranma and the redhead felt their tiny cuts as well. "You can't just completely give up on something. I spent hours thinking about Dr. Tofu. Sometimes when I'm by myself I still imagine his arms, and how strong they would be."

"But they're not there. They can't be there."

"Exactly. They can't be there."

They stood there, looking at each other in front of the medical clinic. Suddenly, a noise resounded from down the street and the pair turned to the sound of glass crashing, echoing through the morning quiet.

"What the hell?"

Akane turned to look at Ranma again. "Just recycling trucks."

"What?"

"Its glass-recycling day. Actually, I remember Kasumi putting some bottles out, although we don't really use all that many. Look, down that way you can see the truck." Akane pointed to their right.

"Ahh. Sure startled me."

Akane smiled. "And what word did you use?"

A red tint appeared on Ranma's cheek. "Uh, on the road with Pop I learned some interesting ways to talk."

"Well, the schoolteachers hate that, especially from girls. Anyway, we should hurry up."

"Alright." The pair continued.

* * *

The halls they walked through were empty, save for a few last minute stragglers. The students all wore uniforms, guys in white shirts and girls in dresses that matched Akane's. The floor was freshly polished, water fountains dotted the walls, and the overhanging lights gave a slightly yellow glare and a very faint buzz, hard to make out against the sound of shoes striking the linoleum-tiled floor. Although Ranma had never been to a school of this size, it was exactly like she figured it would be: long hallways lined with wooden doors, posters scattered at random, each bearing a noticeable yellow sticker with a large black check on it. The stairway steps were wide and lined with strips of black rubber to give traction to rain slicked soles. They stopped in front of a classroom, and Akane opened the door.

Akane went to her seat in the center back, and Ranma sat down next to her. The room seemed foreign and distant to Ranma, the few markings on the chalkboard consisted of numbers and scratches of words in an unintelligible code. She caught fragments of the conversations that bombarded her, but they were filled with people and places foreign to her. It was all worlds beyond China and a backpack

"Akane, who is your friend?"

The class righted itself, silent and attentive. They focused on the middle-aged teacher up front and his question.

"I'm Ranma Saotome."

"She's staying with our family for a while, and wanted to come along with me to school."

Eyes studied the redhead and her bizarre clothing.

"Ah, so you've brought along the paperwork the school mailed you? Funny they didn't tell me about you."

"Uh, Ranma didn't contact the school."

"I just arrived from China."

"Saotome, you're Chinese?"

"No, I was on a trip."

"Ah." The teacher looked carefully at the two girls. "Well, why didn't you plan ahead? You couldn't have just come in from China and end up on Akane's doorstop."

"I'd rather not talk about it," Ranma responded with a vaguely pained expression.

"Alright, I'll add your name on the attendance and talk to the office about you." He paused. "If you plan to stay long, you should pick up a uniform."

"Thank you, but that's okay."

"Alright class, let's begin. With the excitement of a new student, you forgot to stand."

A good-natured groan arose from isolated students, but their playful voices were drowned out by the shuffling of papers and chairs as everyone got to their feet.

* * *

"So what do you think?"

"More interesting than I thought it would be."

Akane and Ranma sat under a tree during lunchtime. The few hours had passed quickly, though Akane often had to whisper explanations to Ranma's questions.

"That's good. I hoped you weren't too behind."

"It's still early in the year."

"Uh-huh." Akane pulled out her lunch. "You don't have anything to eat, do you?"

"Nope."

"We'll have to remember to talk to Kasumi."

"How much longer is school?"

"A few hours." Akane smiled at Ranma. "Maybe after we'll stop for something. Anyway, have some of mine."

"I couldn't."

Akane was startled by the contrast between Ranma's lazy, carefree voice and the intense focus of her eyes. They were on a point slightly above Akane's chin.

"Come on."

"Akane," Ranma whined with a pleading tone.

With her chopsticks, Akane wrapped some noodles into a tight ball. She raised them in front of Ranma's mouth. "If you don't eat it, its gonna go to waste." She let her hand waver slightly.

Ranma stared down the noodles. Sighing, she leaned forward and planted her lips around the chopsticks. She enjoyed how her tongue deformed the noodles by pressing them against the walls of her mouth.

She reverently chewed, until her mouth was clear. She gave a pause of a few moments.

"Can I have more?" Her smile grew grudgingly as Akane giggled.

* * *

The class had all returned from lunch and was waiting for the teacher to resume his instruction.

"So tell me, what's the deal with you?"

Ranma turned to look at the boy out of his seat, standing next to her. He was medium build, wearing the standard white shirt and black slacks. His neck length hair was unevenly combed, as if he had slept on it. The rest of him was meticulously prepared, his shirt starched and free from lint.

"What?"

But for his hair, his face and clothing would blend in with a crowd of fellow students. His face was utterly forgettable.

"You come in here, you call the teacher off. That's good. He can't do anything if you don't wanna talk about it. He feels like he shouldn't have asked, and then he knows even if you told him he'd be unable to help. So he might as well let you in. You make him a hero."

"So what?"

"So what? So who are you?"

"Ranma Saotome."

"You're more than a name."

"I'm staying with Akane's family."

"You're more than who you stay with."

Ranma scrunched her eyes in irritation. "What do you want?"

The boy sighed, letting his focus vanish on a distant point. After a moment, he regained his insistent composure.

"You've been to China. What's that like?"

"It's a lot like here. There's trees. And hills."

The boy's response burned with disbelief. "No! There's more than that, and you know it."

Ranma responded, her tone resigned. "Alright, most people don't live in cities, there are a lot of poor farmers." She paused, then finished with a note of glee. "Drought, they die."

The boy exhaled sharply, exasperated and incredulous.

"What do you want from me? I'm here in Japan now. I live with Akane Tendo."

"And?"

"That's it."

"That can't be it."

Ranma shrugged.

Muttering and shaking his head, the boy walked back to his seat a few aisles away.

Ranma turned to Akane. Akane was already facing Ranma. "Who was that boy?"

"Kazuo." Akane gave Ranma a steady look. "What was the conversation all about?"

"He asked me a bunch of stupid questions. I didn't know what the hell was going on."

Akane giggled. "Ranma! You shouldn't talk like that. But you had the conversation. It was you talking."

"It was you listening."

Akane's smile hid nothing.

"Yeah, well I sure didn't get anything out of it. He was asking me about China and saying I wasn't my name."

"Well, you aren't."

"I don't need some random guy to tell me that."

"Who do you need?"

"Class!" Thirty students straightened in their chairs and faced forward. "You no doubt have wondered why I was late. I apologize fully, and hope you will forgive me." A few students snickered, Ranma noticed Kazuo among them. "But, I have exciting news regarding the assembly planned for the end of this week."

Ranma looked out the window. This time yesterday she'd been out picking berries for a meal. The panda had been beside her, his heavy breath forming a cloud of steam in the chill autumn air. The berries were bright against the green leaves, glistening wet with raindrops from the recent downpour. She shivered at the memory. As she turned her head to look at Akane, she noticed Kazuo.

* * *

"This is good."

"Yeah. I haven't been here for a while. Which ice cream flavor did you get again?"

"What you got."

"Pralines and cream?"

"Yeah."

"I was disappointed. I was hoping you'd pick some wild flavor that you got a taste for while in China."

"In China, they eat the cow."

Akane allowed a trace of liquid ice cream to dribble down her chin, before she wiped away with a course paper napkin. She enjoyed the way the ice cream melted against her tongue, a sugary pool that filled the shallow well in her mouth.

Ranma looked at the way Akane sat, her back reclined and her knees raised up, as if the booth was a throne. Ranma studied her relaxed posture, her regal eye that would pass lazily from her ice cream to the subjects waiting in line behind the counter, to the manager rapidly pacing with his pastel uniform bulging around his large belly. It was just an unimportant restaurant, only idle curiosity. It felt right that Akane would toss her kingly head on a whim.

"Ranma?"

That gaze had focused on the redhead herself, suddenly with a questioning edge to it.

"Hmm?"

"Is something wrong?"

"Nope."

"O-kay." She dragged out the syllable as if it was a schoolyard rhyme. Akane repositioned herself, her blouse sliding against the plastic seat as she straightened her back.

"So, how was school?"

"Better than China."

"Really? Most of our classmates wouldn't think so. Then again, they haven't been to China."

"Yeah. Plus I get food here."

Akane watched the frozen balls of sugar and milk swirled with sticky caramel melt slowly in the air-conditioned store. She finally continued. "I noticed you look thin for a martial artist."

"Anyway, for not being in school for however many years, I can still follow along."

"That's true. You'll want help with the homework, though."

Ranma smiled, then gave an exaggerated sigh. "No way around that."

Akane raised an eyebrow. "You'd want a way?"

"Not as long as you buy the ice cream."

* * *

Their feet hit the pavement in a syncopated beat.

"Anyway, how'd you have the money for this? Do you work?"

"No, it's from the insurance."

"The what?"

"Well, you notice my sisters and I don't have a mother in the house."

"Ahh. I see."

"Not yet. The whole deal was kind of shaky, as when she got sick Mother got huge coverage without telling either Father or the doctors."

"Wouldn't the insurance agents not give that much if your mother was sick?"

"It wasn't exactly the most legal thing she ever did. The insurance agents even sent a few letters and called several times, asking why she died so soon after getting a plan. Father broke into tears, and managed to get out that Mother had received a vision."

"Had she?"

Their eyes met. "No. Father knew he was lying to cover Mother. It was pretty hard on him. I guess he never thought that Mother could pull something like that off."

"You'd think the insurance campany'd find out that your mother was scamming them."

"Apparently Mother was clever. Fraud is hard to prove against a dead woman, I guess. Anyway, Father stopped teaching and none of us have to worry about money again."

"Lucky break."

"You know what? Nabiki's going to renounce her claim to the money when she's eighteen. She figures it'd be good publicity."

"Your sister has publicity."

Akane's mouth turned up in a half-smile. "In her world. She plans to be some rich businesswoman. So far, all she does is make bets at school and sell the occasional picture of me, not like I'm in hot demand. I guess she could do it though. People pay money for a lot of stupid stuff."

"Like ice cream?"

"You said you liked it."

"It was good."

"Kasumi might not take any either."

"Your family is nuts."

"She didn't like the way Mother got it. She always sides with Father."

"More for you."

No response came initially, instead Akane focused solely on her feet, one moving after the other. "Yeah. I mean, they're my sisters, but they can do what they want."

"And more for you."

Akane gauged the weight of Ranma's words. "You keep coming back to that."

Ranma rewarded Akane with a playful raise of the eyebrow.

"Yeah, there is more for me. And there was a lot to begin with."

The street they walked was unfamiliar to Ranma, lined with trees in concrete planters geometrically spaced. Shoppers walked with the pair, their purchases in carts and paper bags. The stores all were small, a laundromat, a restaurant, a grocery, a clothing store

"We're taking a long way to get home, aren't we?"

"I have no hurry to get home."

"Won't your father and sisters be worried?"

"Kasumi might be upset, but everything upsets her."

A feeling of airy weightlessness came over Ranma, and yet somehow she felt drawn in, just from Akane's defiant tone. Their feet came down, again and again.

The stores surrounded Ranma, flashing her with entire malls of cheery advertisements and storefront windows with displays and displays of leather shoes and cashmere sweaters. "Have you ever even been to any of these stores?"

"No, I rarely go shopping." Akane looked at the windows, at the people she could be, just for some money. "Every so often the family goes and we get clothing together. We don't really get into it though, not like my classmates."

"Hmm."

"My Mom got to liking it, near her end, I was the youngest so she took me. We only went a few times as the dojo didn't bring much money, and the doctors cost so much." Akane peered voyeuristically into the windows. "I can't remember which stores we went to those few times though."

Ranma stared as Akane's face and voice hardened.

"I can't even remember which stores we went to."

It reminded Ranma of hysteria, the way Akane became strong and fierce for a single moment. It was like a splash followed by a ripple, diminishing steadily, evenly. Meanwhile, through the store windows were families happily spending, dresses and shirts in hand, going to changing rooms.

* * *

"Want to stop here?"

Ranma looked at the park Akane had stopped in front of. "Yeah."

It was mostly a flat green lawn, with thick shady trees. The dusk light filtered through the trees, while orange streetlamps created bright spheres against the blue-gray overhead. A large stone wall protected against the busy street, although at regular intervals there were grill metal gates, wide open despite the late hour. The two came to a bench, where they sat.

"It sure is getting dark early."

Ranma responded thoughtfully. "I suppose it is."

"Wouldn't you notice it, since just two nights ago you camped out?"

"I guess if you think back on it you'll realize it, but you don't really remember things like that."

"Also, I'd think it'd be cold with just that on. Silk isn't warm."

"It feels nice against my skin."

"Its not worth it if you freeze."

Ranma's placed the back of her hand against her forearm, and her eyes lit with surprise.

"Cold?"

"Yeah."

A hand reached over to touch Ranma's cheek. "You are cold!"

The only response was Ranma's quick grin. "Its not something you notice."

"I guess not." Akane moved her body next to Ranma's.

"Akane, do people come here?"

"Yeah, its popular. It's a nice park. It was built a few years ago, there was a vote to pay for it with our taxes."

They sat there, the night surrounding them with shadows.

Ranma leaned against Akane. "I think the best thing about it is how still and silent everything is. Sometimes it was like this in China."

Akane turned her face, her mouth closer to Ranma's ear. "I can't imagine all the great things you must have seen."

"Spending your life on the read does give you something."

"What?"

Ranma's gaze turned thoughtfully towards the horizon. "I don't know." She noticed the well-kept grass, how sharp the distinction between gray stone path and green nature. "I spent my entire life with my father."

"Sounds like something from a movie."

Ranma looked at Akane. "Yeah. I might be the last person to wander around like that. Right now I'm thrilled to have a warm bed and a bath."

"I don't even know what it would be like."

"It's not even possible to explain. I guess I'm glad I lived like that, no one else has. But only because I'm here, and I'm done." The windblown leaves fascinated Ranma, blurs of motion in the dark. "I don't want to live like that anymore."

"I guess losing your father could do that."

"I guess it could."

* * *

The windows gave off a welcoming glow, and the house was a relief from the night air.

"Where have you been?"

"I've been walking with Ranma, Kasumi."

"You've worried Father."

"He'll live."

"Akane! Don't say that."

"Sorry, Kasumi."

Kasumi exhaled noisily, broadcasting her lack of patience. "Dinner's in a couple of minutes."

"Alright."

Akane turned to Ranma, who had stood silent during the conversation. "A few minutes."

"I was going to ask about the schoolwork."

They walked to the living room, where the dark television sat forlorn and empty.

Ranma pulled a book out of Akane's bag, and removed a worksheet that had been stuck between its pages. "Let's get going."

* * *

Silence ruled the dinner; the conversation was light and fleeting. Then it was over, nothing more than a mess to be cleaned, a stack of dishes that would meld with the thousands that preceded it.

"Ranma, I noticed you didn't eat much." Kasumi was surprised by the motherly tone in her voice; she hadn't thought she could make it work.

"I don't eat much."

"You did yesterday."

"Yesterday I forgot lunch."

"More homework?" Akane broke in.

"Yes, I guess I have to," Ranma responded gratefully. Kasumi was left standing there over dirty plates and half full dishes of food, holding a rag, her attention divided between the younger girls and the task at hand.

* * *

Forty minutes later, Nabiki's voice rang through the thin wood in Akane's door.

"Akane, phone!"

"Okay." Akane rose and exited, leaving Ranma sitting alone on the floor, her back propped against Akane's bed.

Akane padded down the stairs to the table where the uncradled phone lay.

"Hello?"

"Yes, Yuri."

"Not much, you know, school."

"Yeah, Ranma and I were doing it together."

"Of course she doesn't know anything, but she's picking stuff up quick."

"Well, I don't think there's any tests coming up soon."

"We had ice cream and walked home together."

"I would have, but I thought you were busy with, what's his name- you know."

"Broke up? When?"

"Yesterday? You don't say."

"I wouldn't worry, you'll be back with him in a few days tops."

"What do you think I mean?"

"All I'm saying is that this isn't the first time he left you."

"Last time was the last time too. Except now we see that it wasn't exactly the last time, because this time is the last time."

"Hey, I feel sorry for you, but-"

"Oh, that's a nice name for you to call me."

"Fine, I'm sorry, you don't deserve what he did, and he doesn't deserve you. You are a beautiful human being, and he is scum. Go prostitute yourself to an American GI in exchange for your ex-boyfriend's death."

"Alright, I'm sorry, but you do get it, right?"

"Well I'm terribly sorry that Sayuri had to be at the movies and you were forced to dial my number."

Akane sighed audibly, then a long five-second pause.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have been like that."

"I know it must be hard."

"Yeah, he should at least have-"

"Exactly."

The clock on the wall seemed to taunt Akane. She wanted to smash her fist into the pane of glass, the jagged shards leaving thin trails of blood along the contours of her knuckles. She wanted to put the phone on its cradle and return to Ranma.

* * *

The way that Ranma's head was thrown back so that it rested against the bed, so oblivious; Akane just stared in shock at it. Closed eyelids lazily opened and Ranma tilted her head, her back still conformed against the wooden frame. She looked up at Akane's form standing stiff and rigid in the doorway, Akane's face warmly lit from the ceiling light overhead. Akane's hair seemed to glisten, like a halo.

"Who was that?"

"A friend. She got dumped again."

"Dumped?"

"Broke up with a boyfriend."

"That's too bad, I guess."

"It's not." Akane studied the way that the textbooks and papers were arrayed in a circle around Ranma's feet. She memorized how Ranma's left hand loosely held a page of math notes, penned by her hand few days prior. It looked as if the page could just slide out of Ranma's grasp, fluttering the few centimeters to the carpet. "She's an idiot about the guy."

"Hmm."

"You know how a couple will just keep breaking and making up over and over? That's her. And she expects me to sympathize for her. You know how people like that are."

Ranma's gaze was almost apologetic.

"Of course you don't know how people like that are. Well, take my word for it, it gets stupid. And irritating."

"Okay."

"It's like she's not even listening to herself. I can't blame her, I was staring at the clock the whole time."

A quick nod of Ranma's head.

"She just wanted someone to tell her yes every time she had to breathe." Akane sat down on her mattress, close to Ranma, the bare thigh below the cut of her skirt brushing against unfettered strands of red hair.

Ranma's head fell against Akane's leg, her features collapsing into the thick blanket and Akane's soft skin.

"And I sat there, listening. I don't care about it. But I didn't want to say anything, she was already pissed off about what I said at the beginning."

Akane felt the profile of Ranma's face rub against the fabric of her skirt, up and down in mute agreement.

"She'll be fine by tomorrow. She just can't understand anything except now. She doesn't deal with sadness; she needs for it to go away right now. She can't let it well up; she can't learn to accept it. What a bitch. And then tomorrow she'll be bouncing on the walls, saying how happy she is not being chained down. Or she might have even made up by then, and then she'd probably pass out from ecstasy."

"It sounds like she enjoys being like that."

Akane froze, momentarily stunned. "Yeah, I guess she does. You know, Yuri and I will live. Years ago, when Sayuri and I first got to know her, I thought it was funny."

"Hmm..." Ranma's response was soft and noncommittal.

"Did you get any work done?"

"Not really." Ranma turned her head, so that she could see Akane's head. It appeared over the peak of the skirt, a sunrise over silhouetted mountains. "I thought about China."

Akane suddenly noticed Ranma's position, discovered the way her body leaned in, flat against the bed, pressing against Akane's leg. "What about China?"

"I dunno."

"Well, at least you don't go on and on about your boyfriend."

"I try not to."

"You have a boyfriend?"

Ranma giggled, her eyes still focused on a phantom hidden deep in the ceiling. "Of course not. What would I do with one of those?"

"I wouldn't know." Akane's eyes told Ranma it went beyond a joke.

Akane was rewarded by Ranma leaning completely on her; it seemed almost as if Ranma would slump to the ground, unsupported. As if by the friction between their bodies alone, Ranma remained motionless. After a few seconds, Ranma stiffly rose, something in her manner suggesting worn joints. She surveyed the schoolwork scattered at her feet. "I can't really see any more I need to do. Save some for tomorrow."

"Alright." They bent down and began repackaging everything in Akane's bag. "We may have to get you a book bag."

Ranma looked up momentarily, her hands holding open the bag for Akane to fill with the fruits of that night's labor. "Thank you."

Akane smiled, shaking her head slightly, in mild disbelief. "Sometimes you're so formal, I just want to laugh. Time for a bath?"

"I could use one."

* * *

Akane gauged Ranma's nude body. "You're rather thin."

"Not really."

"I guess I didn't notice in the water. Refraction and everything."

"It's nothing to talk about."

"It could be. I'm glad you're here, eating solid meals. Didn't your father feed you?"

"Back with Pop, I wanted to eat more. I needed it for the training."

The hot water welcomed their bodies.

"What training did you do, anyway?"

Ranma's cupped hands jerked towards the water's surface, causing a current to well up in a plume. "We would spar daily, usually at least a couple of hours. Pop would take me to any dojo we could find, so I could fight with the owners."

"So you saw thousands of dojos like ours. That's the kind of tourist trip people save up for years to do, just for the memories. It must have been amazing."

"That's what it seemed at the beginning, but after I'd traveled for a couple of years, they all started to look the same."

"I'd imagine after you saw enough of anything, it'd blend together."

"It would. Memories only go so far."

* * *

As they went up the stairs, Akane thought about the day. "Would you like to have a sleepover?"

"A what?"

"Well, when I was younger my friends and I would all come to one house, and stay up real late talking."

"I'm already in your house."

"No, in my room I mean." Akane meaninglessly tousled her damp hair. It stuck together in shiny black clumps.

"Oh." Ranma stood at the top of the staircase, and Akane stopped as well. "I could." Ranma nodded her head as she talked. "Yeah, I could."

"Alright, come on." They resumed walking.

"Wait, I have to tell my panda."

"What? Tell your panda?"

Akane noticed a distant look in Ranma's eye. "I have to tell him."

Wordlessly Ranma walked through the hallway into her room. The panda lying on the floor, turned slightly to face the girl.

"Akane invited me to sleep in her room."

The panda nodded.

"I probably won't be up to spar tomorrow morning."

The panda waved, stopping any more words.

"Alright, good night." Ranma walked over and scratched the panda near the ears, where white fur and black fur mixed in a misshapen parody of ying and yang.

She walked out into the hallway and almost ran into someone standing close to the doorway.

"Akane!" She lowered her voice. "What's going on?"

"I wanted to hear you talk to your panda."

"What? It's nothing weird."

"Yes it is. No one else talks to their pet. Not like that." Akane looked at Ranma, and smiled gratefully. "It's so cute."

They walked to Akane's room.

Ranma let her body fall against the bed, feeling the springs coil and release from her weight. "So you do this often?"

Akane smiled, shaking her head, taken years away. "No, not for a long while."

"Hmm...?" There was a rising, questioning end to Ranma's tone.

Akane tried hard to smile indulgingly, as if to a little child. "When you get older, you don't do stuff like that anymore."

"Ah."

"Anyway, you have to tell me about your life."

"My life? There's not much to tell."

"No?" Akane laid down across the mattress, then propped her head up with her elbow. "So you're born at age zero, you leave at age five to train, your father dies at age sixteen, and now, the end of the road is a dojo your father mentioned."

There was a hint of suspicion in Ranma's reply. "Yeah, that's about it. Why?"

"This is what you do on the first sleep-over. Or you share a deep and dark secret."

"A deep and dark secret? I'll pass."

"Oh, you can't say that and get away with it. Now you have to explain. What, were you kicked out by your mom?"

Ranma ignored Akane's playful voice. "Sorta. I think."

"You're not sure?" Akane was surprised at the turn of events.

Ranma stared down at the ground she could see between her knees. She sighed deeply. "I think that it involved my training and Pop. I don't think he and my mother got along well. I didn't really understand what was happening, but there was more to it than I was told."

Akane's forehead crinkled with thought. "So your mom kicked your father out and gave you to him?"

"They both agreed that I'd be better off perfecting the art."

"Exciting."

"It was. It really was."

Ranma untied her pants and slid them down. They hit the ground with a quiet thump. Her shirt was next. Akane registered shock.

"What? Do you keep your clothes on during one of these?"

"Well, usually my friends wear more than boxer shorts. Those are huge on you, you know."

Ranma slipped her body under the heavy quilt, relishing how the weighted down sheets exerted a soft, cool pressure. She stretched outward and her entire body pushed against the cotton's embrace. "This feels really good."

Akane walked over to the bed and drew back the covers. Ranma rolled towards the wall in response.

"The girls who came would sleep on the floor."

Akane sat on the bed, looking for a moment at Ranma.

"I've had enough of that from traveling."

Akane lifted her legs and put them under the blanket.

"I figured."

Akane pulled the blanket to her neck.


	3. Part 3

A Panda's Dream pt. 3

Excellsior()attbi()com

The morning was quiet, the moon hung pale against the deep blue gradiented sky. Clouds rested low against the horizon of satellite dishes and housing complexes. As fleeting as the moon, outlines of sleek skyscrapers threatened to fade into sharp mountains rising beyond. Ranma couldn't help but smile, every distant scene melded into the next; the skyline would any second turn a faint sky color and be invisible forever. She turned to see Akane's figure through the glass door that protected Akane's room from the small deck outside. Akane's fingers lazily groped for the handle and pulled the door open. The moving glass split her in two, one filmy and dull, the other bright and clear. The dirty half shrank as the door continued along its track, until finally the whole Akane greeted Ranma with a half awake smile. Akane joined Ranma on the wooden deck, the view of the morning spread wide in front of them.

They were alone, the two of them, surrounded by something as great and fantastical as a city. Houses with one-color roofs provided a grid of sorts that stretched out to a point where the houses could no longer be broken into neat rows and columns, instead replaced by a haphazard patchwork of color and patterns.

Akane indicated with her right index finger a distant three-story building, its color a bland tan. It was lined with windows and it alone poked out of a noticeable hole in the city where no structures grew. Ranma's attention wandered until it struck Akane's target. A brief glance questioned Akane.

"That's the school."

They stared at the geometric building and the rows of metal roofs that surrounded it in all directions. Wide-open spaces were visible, with green tops of trees and brownish patches of dirt. One large expanse was the baseball field, marked by a lattice of gray chain link fence blurred by distance into a haze of metal.

"I should have showed it to you yesterday."

"Why would that have mattered?"

"You'd have seen what it looked like."

"That wouldn't have meant anything to me then." Ranma's voice was sure and unquestioning.

"I never thought of that," Akane responded with a laugh that was little more than a quick exhalation. Ranma wasn't sure which one of the two was being funny.

* * *

"Boolean logic is the next thing to be publicly wheeled out in a coffin, as quantum superpositions hold the answer to an indefinite number of concurrent values."

Ranma barely registered the TV's chipper voice as she and Akane passed the open doorway to its room.

Soun had already sat down at the table, eagerly waiting for breakfast to begin. Akane followed Ranma and they sat down in the same places as yesterday. The television's noisy intrusion ended, and seconds later Nabiki also entered the room. In the blink of an eye Akane and Ranma were seated in their classroom, not waiting for class to begin and yet not doing anything else. It started all the same.

"I think we should begin the class with Ranma sharing about China."

The members of the class focused on Kazuo.

"I'm not sure that's appropriate for our lesson plan, Ishiguro."

"But teacher, I think that it would help us. Who should we learn from, a book or someone who just came from China?"

"Well, that is certainly true. Perhaps, Ms. Saotome, if you wanted to give a short little talk? It wouldn't be graded."

"That's okay."

"Are you sure? It might be interesting."

"I went to see dojos."

"Find any good ones?"

"Most of the ones on the map are gone or aren't dojos anymore." Ranma impatiently looked around at the class.

"Really." The teacher adjusted the glasses covering his eyes. "How old is the map?"

"Fairly old."

"Hmm. You'll have to bring it in."

Ranma hated the exultant smile on Kazuo's face without even seeing it.

* * *

Chance had crystallized into habit as the two sat under the tree from yesterday, a bento on each lap.

"How do you stand Kazuo?"

"What do you mean? He usually stares into space. You've really woken him up."

"What an idiot."

"Are you going to bring the map in?"

"I might as well."

Ranma studied the other teenagers, animatedly discussing something a few hundred meters away, sitting on concrete steps.

"You know, if it wasn't for that map, we wouldn't have went to China."

"Your panda?"

"My father. It was a map someone from our school made hundreds of years ago. Pop decided to retrace the journey he made."

There was a rare intensity in Ranma's voice, and Akane slowly took Ranma's hand in her own, keeping her body otherwise motionless.

"We went to everyplace we could think of in Japan, and finally had to move on to China, hoping the dojos there would still remain true to the art, but they were even worse, destroyed or abandoned. I thought it was something great, a new land to conquer, but my father was very serious about it. I think he somehow knew what we would find before we found it."

Akane nodded.

"You won't forget this, right?"

Akane shook her head, responding in a friendly tone. "Not as long as you remember my mother."

Ranma squeezed Akane's hand, and the tension subsided.

* * *

As the pair walked home from class that day, the quiet afternoon air was struck by a piercing shout. Akane barely had time to look at the source before Ranma grabbed her waist and tumbled out of the way. A teenager, dressed in a colorful silk garb, stood where they had, her hands tensed like claws.

"You not run again." Her accent was broken and halting, her voice determined and forceful. "End it now."

Without speaking, Ranma quickly turned and ran. It was all Akane could do to not let herself be ripped from Ranma's grip. The gray pavement flew beneath them in a monotone blur of motion. They exploded onto a busy street, the Amazon's cries piercing the bustle of the mid-afternoon crowd. Women browsing the latest fashions looked up, confused, fabrics and shades forgotten. Businessmen, steaming bowls of vegetables in front of them, choked and sputtered, oil and sauce escaping their lips and falling on machined suits. A mother buying ice cream and sweets for her children protectively clutched them against her skirt, leaving the cone to melt in the vendor's hands. Mortar, glass, and brick only amplified the ancient Chinese war cry; the buildings that lined the streets vibrated with confidence and rage. And beneath it the Amazon raced, gaining ground on the retreating redhead and the friend she pulled along.

Akane stumbled and fell to the pavement, and she managed to push out a few words over her gasps for air. "Leave me," she managed, "she wants you."

Ranma kept tugging at Akane's hand, unable to let go. "She's crazy, I don't dare." Leaning down, Ranma quickly gathered Akane up in her arms. "I can't leave you."

Shampoo had stopped to stand tall on the street, like a monument, her face clean and pure with focus and strength. "She only slow you down. Fight now. Where you run?"

As Ranma shifted her attention from Akane to her enemy, concern warped into hate and disgust. "I'm not gonna fight." She bolted.

Shampoo had been waiting, and sprung into action, bounding after the fleeing girl. "You not run in first fight!" Akane, secure in a tight hold, was lost in Ranma's hatred, stunned by the Amazon's power. It was all so foreign, but Ranma's dark pacifism called to her, the twisted expression on the redhead's face was right and comforting.

In mid-step Shampoo dropped, like Akane had, but the Amazon's body convulsed in odd twitches, and she quickly scanned behind her, searching for the fire that ran through her body. Her eyes widened.

Ranma stopped as well, turning to see Shampoo down and convulsing, a thread trailing behind her. Eyes traced the string back, back, to its source a few hundred meters away. It was hard to tell who the men were; their black armored van bore no identification. A thin-lipped man in a black suit stood in the background, his arms crossed, his mouth a tight smile. In front of him three similarly dressed men were arrayed, one man knelt on his knees, holding something like a small harpoon gun, while the rest watched intently.

Shampoo saw a wire sticking out of her lower back and ripped it out, removing a barb that had buried itself in her skin. The coursing heat stopped. Ranma and Akane could only watch as Shampoo slowly got up and faced the men. "You interfere with laws and you die."

She gave another cry, and launched herself through the air, and her sound was not her mouth, but instead her body; it was her muscles, her tendons, her bones. She emanated it, sound flowed off her like a fountain, and it rippled through the air. Dancing as it exploded in all directions, it was the air, and her hands were primal weapons, bare and raw. Even as three bullets whistled through her, her body continued, it soared as if it couldn't touch the earth, as if the ground was lifting it up from below. But it limply impacted less than ten meters from where the closest of the men knelt, handgun extended. The bullets also continued, and they sped by Ranma and Akane, until they embedded themselves into a concrete wall.

Akane dumbly sat in Ranma's arms, and Ranma wordlessly let Akane slide down her body. Even after Akane stood on her own feet, they were motionless, their bodies touching and their hands locked together. They were stunned by the death of a violent girl they never knew, and seeing blood seep out of three gaping wholes made it real, gave it substance, made her death more than a subtle heartache or a vague nostalgia. The small group that had gathered was quiet; not in silence for the strange girl. Instead, they stopped because these men in suits had the will to decide. This was no corrupt and dilute democracy, just the here and now of the gun and its unwavering bullets. And for that second, the men and women could feel the world hurtling away from them, each second one more step that could never be taken back. But the moment broke into scattered whispers and flashes of movement, and the group of people was a crowd again, schedules out and shopping lists ready.

An ambulance's sirens rocked the air, but the moment was drained, the team of paramedics nothing more than a quiet epilogue, white text against a black background.

Ranma slowly walked closer to the body, as the doctors hustled from their vehicle to check for vital signs, then for identification. There was neither, and so their latex wrapped hands carefully placed the body in a heavy bag, and zipped it up.

Ranma turned in surprise to see Akane standing right behind her, and Ranma nodded her assent.

"Hey!" Ranma tried to get the attention of an idle doctor. One walked over. "Who are those guys?" She pointed at the armed group of men, who were focused on the electrical harpoon gun from earlier, one of the men jotting something down on a clipboard.

"Some new taskforce, I think."

"Taskforce?"

"Yeah, a group that solves problems. I heard something about this being training." The doctor noticed that the body bag was loaded into the ambulance, and started to walk towards the vehicle. He turned once more to Ranma. "You can ask them. They'd be happy to tell you." A thought crossed his mind before he climbed in his vehicle. "Just don't seem too curious." And with that, the medics sped away the opposite direction, followed by the black armored van.

Ranma glanced over at Akane. "They're out fast."

Akane responded. "I hope you didn't want to talk with them."

"I guess not really. They couldn't say anything that I'd want to hear."

They looked at where the body had been, and saw that the crimson blood was removed. Ranma walked over. "Looks like they dumped baking soda over the stains."

"Or something like it," Akane added helpfully. Ranma nodded.

"Come on, Akane. Let's go home." It was Akane's turn to nod her head, and they walked in step, a little closer than usual. Just as they were about to leave the street, Ranma looked back on the distant scene, trying to memorize it.

When they got home, Akane shouted a greeting to Kasumi, always in the kitchen, and they settled on the couch in front of the television- Akane in Ranma's lap, Ranma's arms around Akane's waist. Akane turned on the TV, and saw the evening newscaster. After listening to him for a few seconds, Akane turned it off. Before its light died, the flickering glow lit every corner of the room.

* * *

When Kasumi called out dinner, the two were jolted out of a half sleep. Akane edged forward on Ranma's lap until she rested on the knees, and then stood up languidly. She looked at the door to the kitchen, backlit by a warm yellow glow that invaded the deep blue of the empty room. Unmoving, Ranma lay reclined against the back of the couch. The distance between them vanished as Akane grasped Ranma's arm and gently tugged. Ranma pulled and was pulled up, her hand gripping tight and steady. The din of clanking dishes and plates was clear through the paper door.

It wasn't until after dinner that Akane mentioned the map.

"It should be right in my pack."

The two ascended the stairs and went into the Ranma's room. The backpack was neatly leaned against the far wall. As Ranma opened the drawstrings, she heard padded feet against hardwood floor. She quickly turned to see Akane standing near. She returned her attention to the bag.

"Anyway, it was more or less chance that led me to China."

"Really?"

"Yeah, Pop decided to go after I managed to beat some famous dojo."

"So you must have really been good."

"Yeah. I really did a number on him, so Pop thought it would be good to move onto the China. You know, more of a challenge."

"You didn't go to any tournaments?"

"Tournaments? The man I beat at that dojo won a bunch of tournaments. He had a trophy case on display, to impress people who didn't know any better. Trophies don't mean anything."

"Are you sure? On TV they make a big deal about them. Just last week I saw in the news some coverage of a recent tournament."

"No one good cares about them. I remember I was pretty angry at the guy that I fought, I kinda hit a bit after he gave up. But you know, he was just such a faker. He didn't even teach any classes, he had his students do that. He was a mascot more than anything."

Akane found it odd that Ranma's words, spoken like they should have been angry, were weighted and ponderous.

"Anyway, after I crushed the guy, Pop decided it was time to move onto China, that's where the real challenge would be."

Akane nodded.

"I didn't notice it, but I think I broke the guy's bones. Pop was real proud of me."

Akane flinched.

"No, its not like he wanted me to hurt people when fighting, he had really been trying to get me to stop it at that point. But beating this guy meant so much to both of us. I had spent my entire life training to win, and now I was on top, I was the example that every martial artist would rise to. I would be the one to overflow the dojos with students, I would take that honor back from movie stars and comic book heroes."

After a moment of thought, Ranma continued. "Anyway, later that week, Pop had been quiet and deep in thought because he didn't know who to challenge next. So he looked through his stuff and found this old family map, and knew we had to go to China."

Ranma looked through the bag, and slowly pulled out a roll of parchment. "You know, I haven't looked through my father's stuff after his accident." Ranma undid a clasp that kept the map folded; out fell a well creased piece of paper.

Akane picked it up and unfolded it, looking with surprise at the crisp paper and typeset printing. It was a map, a collection of tens of small circles surrounded by a squiggled line that represented a boundary. Chinese lettering filled up the left third of the paper.

Ranma stared at it without speaking. When she eventually spoke, her voice was brittle and dry. "That's the training grounds where I lost him. I remember him looking at that sheet around the same time we decided to leave for China. I thought it was odd that my father would doodle."

At first Akane didn't respond, but after looking at it noticed something odd; in a cartoonish scrawl, two circles had been marked with red ink. Inside one was a simple, yet precise drawing of a panda, done only with clean red lines and white space. The other circle was completely filled in with thin crimson stripes.

"Ranma, what does this mean?"

Ranma shook her head and looked away from the paper, her voice a whisper. "It's nothing, Akane. It doesn't mean anything anymore."

* * *

After homework and a bath, Akane and Ranma stood outside the door to Akane's room, Akane in her pajamas and Ranma in a loose tank top and cotton boxer shorts.

"So you remembered to pack your map in my backpack, for next week?"

"Yeah, hopefully that'll make Kazuo happy."

"That's good. Goodnight, Ranma."

"Goodnight, Akane." Ranma made no move towards her own room.

Akane waited, a calm smile on her face, until she started, and softly laughed with self-reproach. "Right. Ready to go to bed?"

Ranma nodded.


	4. Part 4

A Panda's Dream pt. 4

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The light gray fog of early morning made Ranma think of dew-soaked bedrolls and early morning fires, crackling and smoking with bright orange flame. She looked out through the window, her body intersecting with Akane's after a night of careless sleep. Even with a thick quilt pressing the two girls into the warm bed, Ranma thought the city receding into a single vague hue must remind anyone of chill damp earth and the sharp scent of cedar.

Ranma raised her head to better see through the sliding glass door. She heard the rustlings of movement beside her. The mattress buckled slightly as Akane propped herself up on her elbow to look over her friend's body to the world outside. After a moment, she let her body fall, the impact making the mattress curve and reform.

"Good morning Ranma."

Ranma turned from the view to Akane's smiling face. Ranma responded in kind. "Is it time for breakfast?"

"One way to find out."

The covers were thrown back and the room was empty.

* * *

"Hello?"

"Oh, hi Sayuri."

"Yeah, I just got done with breakfast."

"I wasn't sure if you'd remember."

"Well, no I wasn't going to call this time, I figured I'd just go with Ranma someplace."

"Sure, she isn't doing anything else. I'll ask."

Akane put the phone receiver down and shouted to Ranma.

"Ranma, want to go shopping?"

Ranma walked into the room, her lazy pace perfect for a Saturday morning. "Sure."

Akane picked up the receiver again. "That sounds okay."

"Yeah, we'll be over. When is Yuri-"

"Ah, she's already there. Alright."

"Yeah, in a bit."

* * *

The apartment building that Sayuri lived in seemed to hide within a maze of other houses. Around the base of the building was a series of evenly spaced bushes, with bright red leaves both on the bush and on the ground, some branches already bare. As Akane pressed the intercom button, Ranma looked around at the neighborhood that they had walked through to reach this building. Looking at just one house, the house created its own space in the world, through how the trim of the windows was subtlety two-toned against the rest of the house, the way the vague shapes of potted plants were expertly arranged in kitchen windows. It was simple to become permanently lost in a house, trying to understand its story; it would be even easier for whoever lives inside. Ranma looked at the signs of domestic proficiency, from the moss-free roofs to the swept pavement and cut grass.

A buzzer rang out, and Akane pulled open the door leading into the building, beckoning Ranma to enter. Thick red carpet lined the hallway, with a golden cross weave pattern; the carpet gave slightly when stepped upon. The doors that filled the hall were painted a clean white, appearing to recess into cream wallpaper and polished brass faceplates that gave each room a number. There were personal touches on every door: a doormat, a welcome sign, a business card holder.

Muffled footsteps, an open door.

"Hey Akane." Sayuri stepped out into the narrow room, noticing the girl flanking Akane. "Hey Ranma."

"Hey Sayuri."

Ranma smiled, and nodded her head.

Sayuri broke into a grin, and she bobbed her head in a slightly exaggerated response.

"Hi, Akane and Ranma!" Yuri joined Sayuri in the crowded passage, her expression bright and ingratiating.

Ranma repeated her greeting.

"Yuri, I wanted to apologize about what I said."

"Akane, don't worry about it. Anyway, we should get going."

* * *

The shopping center was a labyrinth of multi-storied atriums with glass ceilings and displays, circular stairways descending to connect separate floors. Staring at how the distinct style and palette of each store jammed into the next, the infinite hallway of clashing worlds extended into an oblivion of brightly clothed shoppers and eye-grabbing storefront displays. Each store's devised strategy of arrangement and coloring originated in the same school; the shoppers' jeans and t- shirts, slacks and button-downs came from the same Asian factories.

The four girls stood in front of a glass-plated store directory.

"Well, Akane, what's first?"

"I dunno, Sayuri, I don't really have anything definite in mind."

"Wait, what are we shopping for?"

Yuri gave a quick laugh at Ranma. "It's hard to believe you don't know about shopping."

"Well, my excuse is I'm trying to learn."

Sayuri saw the grin on Ranma's face and couldn't help but break out in her own. "You don't need an excuse. It's just what us girls do. We go to the mall. If we're really lucky, we buy something."

"Am I gonna get lucky?"

Sayuri glanced at Akane. "I dunno, will you?"

Akane shook her head and laughed. "I guess, if Ranma wants to."

"You should get a jacket, if I was walking around in short sleeves right now you'd sure be hearing it."

"You know, Yuri, you don't really notice it."

"Are you crazy? Of course you do! You don't because you're crazy or something."

"Great choice, crazy or something."

"Come on, Ranma, you knew what I meant."

Ranma giggled just like Yuri. By this time, the group had reached a store with a large display of winter coats in the window.

Ranma stopped for a moment. "Hey, maybe I do want to look in here."

Akane joined Ranma in staring at the fully dressed mannequins. "Sounds good."

Inside was another world, the art deco of geometric skylights reformed into light brown paneling; a wooden earthiness that called to sweet things lost and forgotten, something that could be for a moment regained by a credit card. The clean elegant lines were mirrored in the floor, in the wall, in the clothing itself.

Black leather jackets were arrayed in a straight procession of sizes and styles. Ranma saw it, and was pulled in.

"Akane, come look at this." Ranma's hand reached out to rub the soft texture against her fingers. "It's lovely."

"Wow, five minutes and you want to blow the month's food budget. Quick learner."

"What do you mean, how expensive can this be?"

Taking the price tag in her hand, Akane's eyebrows raised and her jaw slackened. Her expression reformed and she turned to Ranma. "Fairly expensive. Do you want it?"

"No, that's okay."

"You're not getting away with that. What's your size?"

"Uhh..."

"Never mind, we'll bring a couple into the changing room."

* * *

"It doesn't go well."

"Really? I like it."

"I do too, but Ranma, look how it clashes with your old clothes, with those old ties and stitches."

"Hmm..."

"You know, some gray would go well with that."

"Think so?"

"I'll get you some, you'll have to change."

* * *

"Wow, Ranma, I gotta say, that looks sharp."

"Thanks Yuri, but Akane gets the credit."

"Well, it's your face and hair that make it work. And how thin you are."

"Sayuri's right, look at how snug those pants I found are. Turn around."

Ranma did, pulling her jacket up so the girls could see the tight seat of her slacks. Even Yuri nodded with appreciation.

Akane's continued animatedly. "And that sweater, look how well it and the pants match the jacket."

In the silence that followed, Ranma could feel the eyes of the other girls searching her body over, content with their craftwork. The seal was affixed, approval granted.

"Anyway, I'm hungry enough to eat all of tomorrow's food right now." Yuri led the group to the food court, and put down her shopping bag and her purse. "I need to find a line to wait in."

"Wait, Yuri, I'll go with you."

"Alright, Akane."

The two remaining girls watched their friends recede into the rushing crowd.

"I have to say, you've done wonders with Akane."

"What?"

"She's been...nervous for a while, kinda agitated."

Ranma nodded politely.

"Like Yuri, I heard she said something to Yuri two nights ago. Look at them now, just because she got to pick out an outfit for you." Sayuri smiled, her arm idly stroking the same white cotton blouse Ranma had seen her wear to school. "I don't know what you did, but it's working."

"I didn't do anything to her."

"Maybe not, but you're something to her that Yuri and I aren't, you're something free that she can work with. We're already mired in years of history." A wistful sigh came out of Sayuri, hard for Ranma to hear over roar that enveloped them from all direction- of men, women and children talking and moving all at once.

"So you usually weren't like this?"

"No, Akane didn't talk much." Sayuri turned away from Ranma to look at the hundreds of people that surrounded them.

"Hmm." Ranma rubbed the palm of her hand against the speckled fuzz of her sweater.

"It was sad, because I knew I couldn't do anything, and besides, Akane seemed to want to be by herself, and I let her. All three of us were too selfish." Sayuri studied Ranma affectionately, trying to see through the small, rounded nose and curved chin. "I guess all I can say is keep it up. She's lucky." She maintained her gaze. "You're lucky."

Out of the corner of her eye, Ranma noticed Akane and Yuri approaching, Yuri's hands clenching a large paper bag that bulged from unidentified food. The two were chuckling about something.

* * *

The day flew by in a whirl of advertising banners unfurled from the distant ceiling and friendly commissioned employees. They decided to sit down in front of a series of indoor fountains; the bottoms coated with yen and the water rushing from one pool to the next, until the end where it was pumped back to the start. Yuri looked at Sayuri. "What's the time?"

"About time for us to head back. Will you come?"

Akane looked at Ranma. "That's okay, my family is going to my mother's grave today."

"Ranma, you want to watch a movie or something with us?"

Ranma shook her head, slowly and with sympathy. "Sorry, I probably should go with Akane."

Sayuri exhaled an ironic laugh. "Yeah, you probably should. You'll have more fun with her than with me."

"That's not true, you're very nice."

"Akane'll be nicer to you." Sayuri's grin was large, with just a small twist of playful envy. "Maybe I should find someone."

Yuri was quick to respond. "A boyfriend?"

"That'd work. I bet Kazuo'd be free."

Ranma wrinkled her eyebrows in ill-concealed distaste. "You like him?"

"No, too odd of a guy." Sayuri shrugged. "Every so often he says in front of the class that we're being pulled along by whores, who strip us of our identity. He thinks power and money are prostitutes. I could try to seduce the weirdo."

Even Akane laughed at that.

"Anyway, Yuri and I should be going."

"We'll walk out with you, Ranma and I need to be home soon anyway."

They rose, gathering their bags and entering the flow of people that spilled and crashed into and over riverbanks of glazed floor-tile and tinted glass.

* * *

They had parted ways in the parking lot, under the lights that had just started to turn on, even as the setting sun burnt the sky a bright red. It was four smiling faces and waving arms, and then it was two pairs of walking girls, each in step with her partner. The silence that existed between Ranma and Akane was comfortable; they were content to walk at an easy pace between houses with warm yellow glows emanating from the kitchen, from the family room, from the bedrooms.

"You have some nice friends."

"I guess I do, no matter what I said about Yuri. I was going to ask what was it that Sayuri was talking to you about, you both seem wrapped up in it."

"Nothing much."

Akane nodded. "Anyway, she came from the founding family of some famous martial arts school, that's how I became best friends with her, anyway. She got to know Yuri a few years before my mother died. Although..." Akane looked up at the sky. "Maybe it was around the same time, now that I think about it."

"I recognize this place, over there's that park we walked through earlier."

"That's right. I was thinking maybe we could go there."

"Sounds good."

* * *

They walked through the public park, but this time there were families throwing Frisbees on the grass, pushing baby carriages over the uneven pavement, even groups of teenagers leaning against trees and sitting on the benches, laughing. Ranma know it was amazing, something that China, for all its sweeping mountains and lush meadows, couldn't inspire.

"Ranma, I wanted to give you this."

They sat on the same bench they had rested at earlier. Akane held a gold circle, then pressed it into Ranma's open palm and curled her grasp around it. It was cool to the touch. Ranma slowly unfolded her hand.

"What is- A watch?"

"Yeah, a pocket watch." Akane smiled winsomely, her face open and bright with quiet pleasure.

"This is amazing." Ranma played with the watch, twisting it from side to side and watching the glare reflect off its face. She pressed a knob on and a hinge opened. The fading sunlight afforded her a study of the hands and the markings: careful, elegant lettering placed on the circumference of an almost glowing ivory surface. Ranma pressed the lid closed again, fingers running over the near-mirror lacquer on the thin cover. "What made you get this?"

Akane shook her head, almost wistfully. "I dunno. I saw it and I thought of you. I wanted you to have it."

In the distance, cut into the slope of a nearby hill, an office building stood in the light of the setting sun, its windows ablaze and its stone facade crimson, pools of molten gold in red sandstone basins.

Ranma wrapping her arms around Akane, her head on the other girl's shoulder. She looked up, the face of her friend only centimeters away. "It's so easy to love you, you know that?"

"Yeah."

Ranma giggled when Akane's hand lightly squeezed the seat of her pants. She leaned forward so their lips flowed into the each other's; fathers walked by with polo shirts, children played baseball with tiny leather mitts.

* * *

"We're home!"

"About time. It's almost dark." Kasumi gave her younger sister a reproachful glance. She turned towards the stairs and raised her voice. "Nabiki, do you think that the word now means later?"

"Alright, alright."

Soun walked in, his tall, thin frame eclipsed by the panda walking him. "Kasumi, are we ready?"

"When Nabiki decides to, yes, we will be."

Nabiki descended the stairs. "God, Kasumi, its not like mother's going anywhere."

Ranma noticed that no one responded, although Soun's wincing was rather painful to watch.

* * *

The polished gravestone was clean, obviously well cared for. It was alone, surrounded only by slightly over-grown grass, in a private plot. Overhead was an ancient tree, withered by centuries, its leaves scattered on the ground below. Downtown Tokyo rose in phantom columns over the profile of a distant hill.

"Dear wife, here's someone new for you to meet, it's the daughter of Genma." Soun waited the appropriate amount of time then continued. "I guess he turned out to be a girl after all. Anyway, she and Akane are quite close now, and I know you're as glad about it as I am. She's been so much happier recently, it must mean so much for her."

"Father!"

"Kasumi, if you want to talk to Mother, I'd appreciate it if you'd wait a moment."

Kasumi started, her face an embarrassed red. "Father, don't you know that Akane and Ranma are having..." Kasumi trailed off, her tongue refusing to speak the word. "Having sex."

"What?" Soun turned away from his wife's grave, facing his two daughters. "Are you serious?" Akane looked away, Kasumi nodded in self-righteous anger.

"Akane! Who is this boy?" Soun's form straightened and his gaze steeled. He looked his daughter in the eye. "Is this Ranma's doing?" He turned to address the other girl. "Listen, I can only express my deepest sympathies for your father," Soun stopped, sighing appropriately with power and conviction. "He was my closest friend. But, he would also not want you to fall into this moral abandon." Crescendoing, his thundering voice echoed to the heavens burning invisible above.

"When such disgrace befell our family, my fathers had no choice, as I have no choice now. I must be harsh; I must be just. I can hear Mother as easily as when we were engaged that clear, starry night, she is calling out that our honor cannot be lost, our nobility cannot be forsaken."

"Father! Akane and Ranma are having sex!"

"There's a man ruining our family name, so why won't you tell who he is? I'll show him that my daughter and her friend aren't to be used like cheap toys."

Kasumi could barely stand to correct the rage that burned so beautifully on her father's face, she wanted the spark to re-ignite the cold embers within.

"With each other."

"Yes Kasumi, but with who? You have to understand, Kasumi, this is what I must do! I must act."

"With each other, Father! There is no boy!"

"What? What do you..." his voice trailed off, his expression frozen into a sculpture of confusion, his towering frame captured forever in a stance of commanding presence. Then it was gone, the moment fading into the endless procession of dead hours.

Ranma saw the family: Soun's slumped posture, Kasumi's scornful eyebrows wrinkled in black rage, Nabiki's sad, mocking smirk. Her arm found Akane's body; her fingers reassuringly gripped the soft skin of Akane's thigh.

"Akane, how could you do this to Father!"

"I didn't do this to anyone! No one was supposed to know!"

"What, like Nabiki and I couldn't hear the sounds from your room?"

"It's easier to hear if you press your ear right up against the door."

"Nabiki, you have no right to say that! And Akane, how could you do it? Do you know what it means to Father to see you well married?"

"I was supposed to marry Ranma anyway..."

"It's not the same, it's not close to the same! How did you think Father would feel?" She paused, and then started again, a clever triumph in her eyes. "And what about Mother?"

"Don't lecture me about Mother, you always hated her! You hated her even after she gave you what you always wanted and taught you how to take care of the family! She replaced me with you, just so you could be happy!"

"You can't believe that; it was Mother deciding that you were suddenly too good for housework, that you deserved something better, and that I should be the one to take it. And now marriage itself isn't good enough for you, and you're wrapping that girl around yourself, along with whatever else you do to each other!"

"I don't care! You don't know how it feels to have a warm body pressed against yours, or to stare into loving eyes! You don't know what it's like to look at her naked body and want her more than anything else!" Akane's cadence slowed, and she lowered her face from Kasumi's glare. Tears fell down, drop by drop. "You don't know how much I needed her!"

Akane turned and reached for Ranma, her movement mechanical and her hands shaking. Ranma embraced her.

"Ranma," a deep voice intoned, hollow and cracking. "Please..." Soun's eyes kept flitting towards the relief of the grave. "Please...be good to Akane. She reminds me so much of her mother. Please...take care of her."

Kasumi seethed but her feet remained rooted, her clenched fists trembled. It was painfully clear to her now; she had lost, Akane had won. Mother had written a shining path into the stars for her youngest daughter, for reasons that lay dead and buried under the white gravestone.

Ranma nodded dumbly. "Sure, Mr. Tendo. Sure." Soun gratefully turned away to affix his eyes to the ghostly white stone. As the sun fell below the horizon and dusk descended, the panda stood removed, watching silently with an ethereal stare.

* * *

As they walked home, silent and pensive, a well-dressed businessman in matching dark suit and tie approached, looking pointedly at Ranma. "Do you have the time?"

The family halted, waiting for the girl to answer. They stood under the awning sky, starless and orange from millions of electric lights. Against the incandescent night, the panda's eyelids fell together, until the spectral, luminous whites melted into velvet fur. A breeze ruffled his fur, and he was lost in another time, when the vibrant forests of Japan called sweetly with majesty and purpose. When the star-studded heavens were so close and clear that a father could hoist his son onto his shoulders, when the child's fingers could grasp the points of twinkling light that glimmered brilliant silver against radiant black.

Ranma smiled, pulling her arm tightly around Akane's waist, feeling Akane's body press back into hers. Her other hand reached into the velvet lining of her jacket pocket, searching for the smooth piece of metal. She pulled out her watch, its metallic finish shining from the haze of the overhead streetlamp.

"The time?" She at once fought the urge to break out laughing. "Why would we know that? All we can do is to keep going and hope we make it. We have to make it before it's too late."

* * *

Thanks to August Dvorak and William Dealey for their work in

keyboard research. Thanks to Don DeLillo and Michael Cunningham

for their inspiring artistic vision. Thanks to whomsoever contacts

me as a result of this work. I thank you, the reader, for your time.

excellsior()attbi()com

or

haxchan()yahoo()com


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